Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Pixel Suggestions

So I've been playing with my new toy, the Chromebook Pixel. Everyone knows ChromeOS as the OS which is only a browser, but it is surprisingly capable. Of course, everything which works in Chrome, works well on the Pixel. This includes many Chrome apps, a few of which Google suggests upon the first use. (Hint to Google: Fix all those broken links!)

As a developer though, I spend most of my time either in a browser or in a shell. And on my laptops, most of the shell time is spent in ssh. ChromeOS works reasonably well for this. There are two apps I want to highlight for users like me. There are Chrome apps for secure shell and VNC. So far, I have been able to live completely inside ChromeOS without resorting to developer mode. I will blog more tips as I find them.

I've found myself recommending the Pixel quite a bit. The free Drive storage offer is worth more than the cost of the machine. And ChromeOS can be replaced with your favorite Linux distribution. The screen is great, with more pixels per inch than Apple's "retina" MacBooks, and with a better aspect ratio too! A better machine, with Drive storage, without the Apple tax, and without OS/X's many flaws (window management???)... How could you pass it up?